1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for identifying virtual body profiles representing real human bodies.
2. Description of Related Art
In a number of fields there is a need to obtain three-dimensional digital data which may subsequently be used in particular to develop a virtual and/or real dummy body which is highly representative of the body of a subject under consideration.
The virtual dummy body can subsequently be used in connection with CAD systems (computer aided design/drawing).
As for the actual dummy body this may subsequently be used for the production, testing and checking of actual size prototypes.
The use of dummy bodies of this kind takes on a particular importance in the field of clothing design but also in all other fields which require a faithful representation of the body of the subject under consideration in all its diversity.
For example, International Patent Application WO 01/01235 published on 4 Jan. 2001 in the name of T. Singhal illustrates the use of digital models to make it easier to purchase a garment. A virtual image of the customer wearing the garment of their choice is generated by a computer from measurements supplied by the customer.
Another way of obtaining digital data representing a person is to acquire images of this person and digitize them.
Croyle, U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,652, describes a process of this kind and the system based on a video camera which is adapted to carry it out. The process in question allows the morphological data of a target population to be entered into a database and to be organized according to volumetric, dimensional and angular criteria. This database makes it possible to produce standard patterns for different categories of garments.
Sawada, U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,424 also describes a method of making clothes by recording and categorizing live models. A virtual dummy which is as close as possible to the person who is to wear the garment is developed from the data recorded and from measurements resulting from the digitization of the body of this person.
Up till now, the development of three-dimensional digital data representing the body of a subject under consideration required a “heavy” phase of digitizing the body of this subject, allowing a very large number of points (typically several thousand) to be recorded.
For example, according to Sawada's method, the customer is measured in three dimensions, both in nude and in foundation garment, at an underwear sales corner in a department store. The preferred non-contact three-dimensional measuring machine which measures the customer's body is a system called “body line scanner”, or “BL scanner”, described in “Automation Technology” (in Japanese), Vol. 26, No. 10, pp 56–62.
The “BL scanner” is also described in Japanese Pat. Appl. JP1121707, as well as in numerous brochures and papers from the HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS company.
It features 2,048,000 measurement points at high precision scanning or 1,024,000 measurement points at high speed scanning.
The above specifications of the “BL scanner” make clear that Sawada's method involves the use of sophisticated and expensive equipment, and takes some time.
A much simpler system allowing an individual to order a customized pattern of a garment at an affordable cost is described by Swab in U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,118. The system features an apparel design database comprising a multiplicity of individual garment design profiles. Profiles are selected according to customer's body measurements which are entered by an input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a voice recognition unit or an automatic body shape scanner, or any combination of these devices. Only one thousand points may be scanned by an optical shape sensor such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,268. These data are transmitted to a remote computer in order to enable this remote computer to perform fit evaluation and to select a product having an appropriate size. Subsequently, on a monitor display, the product photograph is superimposed on the customer body image.
From the above description of Swab's system, it is clear that, due to the small amount of scanned points, only the customer's general body shape can be displayed, and that the resulting body image cannot be very appealing.
Therefore the goal of the present invention is to alleviate the above mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and to generate three-dimensional digital data highly representative of the body of a subject under consideration, irrespective of his/her age, sex and ethnic background, without the need for heavy digitization.